


A Matter of Trust, Ch1-Pt3

by Dressari



Series: Distant Worlds [3]
Category: Creators Keepers of Mana, Dan and Mab's Furry Adventures, Furry (Fandom)
Genre: CKoM - Freeform, DMFA - Freeform, Furrae, Multi, Other, cubi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-22
Updated: 2017-07-22
Packaged: 2018-12-05 07:53:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,269
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11573685
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dressari/pseuds/Dressari
Summary: The final part to chapter 1 of the flagship story. Destania gets to know the unusual inhabitant that emerged from the Ice Chamber she previously discovered. And Adrian is perhaps not all that she expected from a long past age of time.In the meantime Biggs is graced an unexpected visit from an employee of an artifact collector.CKoM is owned by myselfDMFA and it's characters are owned by Amber Williams.Story editing done by Caine





	A Matter of Trust, Ch1-Pt3

Destania folded her arms waiting a moment to respond, part of her almost wanted to laugh at the suggestion, "Maybe... Why, is that a problem?"

Adrian glanced back to her, wondering if that question was a trap. "I don't know... I... don't know this world any more, I have no right to judge anything at this point," he said honestly. She just stared back at him with a relaxed expression, maybe there was a glint of finally getting through to this suspicious Cubi. There was of course the matter of fair trade, “You've never heard of the Creators, Dee?” he asked.

“No, you are the first I have heard of laying claim to... whatever you are.” replied Destania. His eyes looked at her with the same sadness he had displayed earlier.

“I see...” said Adrian drearily. He ran his hand over the top side of the box, a white light emitted in a brief flash and it settled within his palm. Once the light cleared, his hand held a small computer like device. “I guess that's, that then.” He then turned to face her attaching the box to his belt, it had a beige light pustulating from the top in the shape of a narrow oval. “We are... guardians of a sorts, we interact with and protect an energy called Mana.”

“Mana? You mean that silly concept of magic they use in video games?”

Adrian chuckled, “No- no, heh, Mana is an intangible energy that flows through all living things. And it gives life to the elements that make up our world.” he said re-correcting the term he found amusement in, it hadn't been the first time someone made that kind of relation. “You may not see it, but it's there, apart of you, me and the world we stand on. I can feel it, sense it... you might be able to as well if you knew how.”

Destania blinked, “Wait, are you saying that elements like Fire, Water... they are this energy?”

Adrian nodded, “They come from this energy, yes, but they don't make Mana.” he corrected and held a finger in the air. Motioning a few circles, the area he traced eventually caught on fire. Then, he removed his digit, leaving the circle of flame hovering in the air, “All of the elements rely on each other to make habitation on this planet possible, the air you breathe, the water you drink, the minerals from the earth that made up your... uh, well... it's not quite clothing is it.” he said scratching the back of his head remembering that detail about Cubi shapeshifting.

“I understand the point you are getting at,” assured Destania. She tugged at her tunic top a few times, “We Cubi are capable of changing our bodies and wings into many things and shapes. Clothing is but an example since you are wondering.”

“And I guess when you fall unconscious you-”

“Yes, we lose control of any forms we hold,” the Cubi quickly interjected with an annoyed sigh. “Consider any 'view' you caught a very, VERY rare glimpse.”

Adrian waved up a hand defensively, “It was storming, you were bleeding and out cold, worrying about anything else was the least of my concerns, Dee.” he said, hoping to avoid implanting any ideas he was that kind of guy. “But, going back to me... as a Creator I can weave and control these elements, bend them to my will, in a sense I guess you could call that magic, but with Nature. This connection to Mana also empowers me in various other ways, such as being able to sense people's Aura's.”

“Aura's?” questioned Destania motioning a hand from side to side at waist level, “What is that? A soul or a spirit?”

“Nothing like that, I think,” replied Adrian scratching the underside of his chin, he never heard or even thought of the idea that an Aura was in fact someone's soul, perhaps it was, perhaps it wasn't. “An Aura is a persons connection to the flow of Mana, it is what defines our personalities and our affinities to each of the elements. Some people have it stronger, some are far more attuned to certain ones.”

Destania tilted her head slightly finding a point of interest in his words, “Personalities, like... emotions? How someone reacts to things?” she inquired.

“Each elements plays a part in determining what emotions we're more prone to yeah, like, Fire attuned people would be more prone to impulsive and aggressive emotions.” he answered.

Now things were starting to get more elaborate. Adrian was being awfully forthcoming with this information, he was practically laying out everything she might want to know. Strangely, the way he made this Aura concept sound somehow related very well to how Cubi feed from the emotions of others to sustain themselves. An interesting thought popped into her head, if these so called aura's existed, was it this Aura Cubi fed from?

Wait a second, what was she thinking! This was not a time to be doing research and theories. The conversation was starting to drone on and become distracting, in fact it was about time leaving was put on the priority list. Staying here much longer would no doubt only bring more trouble.... like say a passing Gryphon or a DRAGON even.

“Come to think of it Dee,” said Adrian, continuing to speak about the subject unaware of her thoughts on the matter, “You've got a strong pull on the Darkness and Fire Elements there.”

“And, what does that mean?”

“The Darkness means you're not squeamish about getting something done, however ruthless you have to be. And the Fire likely means you tend to be a little more passionate, assertive.” he explained casually but didn't offer any change from his smile that had been present for a while now.

Destania suddenly felt a chill run up her spine, that was almost a good evaluation of her personality, whether that was down to the exact core she wasn't sure. But the fact that he could determine such things merely by looking at her Aura was troublesome. And might prove to be a problem... or a benefit if she could get him to direct it to potential threats.

“Dee, am I making you uncomfortable?”

Without realising it Destania had clenched one of her hands into a fist for a moment. Letting it flop loose, she let her muscles relax, getting tense was a bad idea. “No... you just, you powers seem very... impressive. It is true, I do prefer to get things done by any means possible.” she admitted, growing tired of yet again having the wool pulled over her eyes.

“Don't worry, that was just a generalization,” he said, offering a smile of assurance with a quick wave of his hand, “Heh, emotions are so varied I doubt all eight elements would cover all of them, some emotions require two, or more to really be classified.”

“Hold on a second,” said Destania realising one of the 'elements' he had named was not one of the four she had been familiar with in terms of magic, “You said, Darkness, is an element? As in, shadows, and the night sky darkness?”

“Correct,” nodded Adrian affirming her question, “Light, is its polar opposite because you cannot have one without the other. Technically.”

“Fire, Earth, Air, Water, Light... and Darkness,” listed Destania folding her arms, the last two sounded absurd to say the least, two somewhat impossible forces being classed as an element. Then again, without Light one would not be able to see the world around them clearly, and with darkness, perhaps being blind you could see so much more in a different way. “What are the last two elements?”

She observed Adrian kneel down to the ground, he touched it with the tip of his left hand and it became enveloped in a deep green glow. Slowly from the cracks of the metal floor plates, thin green appendages sprouted up, pushing through the metal like a weed. It twirled around and then intertwined into itself creating a singular vine above the plate. The vine then sprouted forth a bulb before it slowly pushed open revealing a yellow rose like flower. He took the newly formed plant between his finger tips and the growth separated from the flower and receded into the ground again, leaving the newly bloomed plant within his hand.

“Nature.” said Adrian rising to his feet, he held the flower out towards Destania and a pink glow enveloped the plant along with his hand. The rose gently flew from his palm and floated over to the waiting Cubi whom stared at it with a pause. “And Gravity.” he added.

“Gravity?” queried a puzzled Destania with a cocked eyebrow.

“Luna, the moon, gravitational pulls. If that helps any.” elaborated Adrian, “The yellow rose is often a symbol of friendship back in my time. Here's hoping I can perhaps become yours as we get to know each other, you don't seem the type easy to trust others.”

Direct control over the forces of gravity on Furrae, not exactly unheard of, but performed with such little strain and no incantations of spells was... intriguing. Destania continued to stare at the flower, hesitant to take it, there were many meanings behind the offering of a rose. None of them were ones she fancied entertaining. Frankly she had no interest in making 'friends', yet he seemed persistent and a hopeless romantic at heart. Such easy emotions to destroy if presented the opportunity, and this Adrian was leaving so much of himself open to attack. Reckless, foolish... useful. Perhaps this trip was not a waste after all. Slowly she plucked the flower from the air, but offered no smile to its provider.

She watched Adrian approach the lockers. Far too casual, with little to no worries in the world he just stepped into, she was watching a Being that had everything about him change under the passage of time. Where was the shock, where was the denial? Sadness didn't seem too much to make her believe he was walking into this ordeal unscathed.

“You do not expect me to believe that you would walk into this world as optimistic as you are,” said Destania, taking a few steps around to his side but with a sizeable distance so she could watch what he was doing at the lockers, “Your world is gone, likely everyone you knew has passed on. You were alone, forgotten in a dark tunnel. How DID you come to be in that chamber?”

Adrian flicked the lockers open, reacting to his presence as the sole owner of their contents. He did not look back at her only stared into the container as he replied, “Call it... a fitting end to finally bringing peace to an unbalanced world.” Adrian glanced back the depression in his eyes returned, “If I had known my wounds would've taken this long to heal... I would have chosen death. But it did not choose me... this time.”

How incredibly cryptic and foreboding thought Destania.

“I cried all my tears while you slept, I discovered enough to know that I am alone.” continued Adrian. He began to pull out pieces of equipment from the locker, throwing them to the floor behind him. Each piece made a thunk against the metal floor then the scrounging came to a stop as his eyes laid upon something incredibly important. “One can only cry so much, before the tears run dry, and we temper it into another emotion.”

Destania made a slow hard blink, she didn't expect to find herself... strangely relatable to that sentence. Only she had turned her pain and tears into hate, and ice. But her sympathy for others had also run dry, too many times was her heart and trust shattered. Too many times.

“It's too late to change what is done,” said Adrian and from the locker he drew a sword and its scabbard, taking a long hard stare at the blade as if it was more than just a mere tool. Something personal, something close to his heart. Taking hold of the hilt, he drew the smoggy silver weapon partly from the protective sheath, revealing part of the sword, a small beacon of deep green light pulsing from the flat of the blade. He snapped it back in again, “I do not know what I missed, nor can I dwell on it, one day I would outlive everyone I knew, I came to terms with it early on. All I can do now is carry on their memories.”

Holding the blade to one of those box like objects, Destania watched as the weapon was enveloped by a bright white glow and then become absorbed into the pulsing white light. The weapon was gone from sight, taken by what she now believed to be a storage device of some kind. His time was clearly very advanced in both magic and technology.

“What is that glass like material?”she asked, grabbing one of the pieces of armour he threw to the floor, it too was also made of that same silver-glass material, “Everything you have, or use, appears to be made of it.”

“Elevas?” he replied, waving the box he held in the air and showing her the item from several different angles. “Nothing special, just a material that is a by-product of the elements, it can be shaped and weaved into a lot of things if you know how... or have the right tools.” Adrian pulled out a pair of boots from the locker, turned, and set them on the ground, the backside of them were set into an open position.

Nothing special, he said, of course not she figured. “I have never heard of this material,” said Destania, continuing to observe Adrian prepare himself for travelling, he intended to leave this dreadful place too. He stepped into the protective boots and the backs enclosed of their own accord as if they were sensing his presence, “So with your newfound freedom, Adrian, what do you plan to do with it?” she asked.

Adrian had no real idea. Explore this new world? That seemed like the only plausible decision. In turn, he used his powers to draw the pieces of armour to his hands, starting with the largest piece, the torso. Placing it upon his body, it followed the example of the boots. “I'm not sure,” he finally replied, slipping his arm through pieces of armour and locking them to the torso. “I guess... wander? Unless you don't mind me coming back with you. You're pretty much the only friend I have right now Dee.”

Destania suddenly felt the back of her mind twinge at the mere mention of that term, 'friend', there was nothing friendly about their interactions aside from the exchange of information. And that they haven't tried to kill each other... yet. Still, Biggs was expecting something out of this farce, and taking this strange Being with her was the only evidence she had. Though she couldn't help but feel this was an incredibly bad idea. She offered no reply to his request but still watched as he prepared this... over compensating suit of armour.

It appeared bulky, but well protective in spite of the nooks she could see as potential puncture points, however his movements was unrestricted and motioned as if the armour was simply a second skin. She was almost tempted to test how strong the 'glass' would stand up to a Cubi based attack. Once all but the helmet was attached, completing the suit he turned to face her.

“Something on your mind?” he asked her, “You seem... hesitant.”

Cautious was a better description, but her hesitation was more because of something she noticed was on the front of the armour. An etching, a symbol or an icon, it featured the shape of a red crimson bird with spread wings as if it was soaring into the sky, long tail feather stretched out underneath it. Dragons, Cubi, Clans and Demons usually had symbols of sorts as chosen markers, or in the Cubi case an unwanted identifier.

Like everything else about this Adrian, this was not a symbol she herself was familiar with.

“This is a curious emblem on your armour,” said Destania trying to draw attention to it, perhaps he would be willing to simply explain the reason behind it, “It seems to stand out from the silver on your armour.”

“Oh, that?” said Adrian with a lack of enthusiasm in his voice, distracted by the helmet as she examined the integrity of the piece to make sure everything was still functioning. “This armour used to belong to my dad, guess I inherited it. Nothing special it represented the unit he used to lead.”

“I see, your father was an adventurer?”

“No, he was... a lot of things.” he then shrugged to one side, “Maybe he was actually. I think Scholar would better describe what he used to do before my sisters and I were born.”

Regardless, Destania hoped that symbol was still virtually unrecognised in Furrae, or maybe she was just being overly paranoid. “I will have no issue if you choose to come with me, in fact I would much prefer it.” said the Cubi taking a few careful but casual steps towards him, folding her arms and offering a smile, “Admittedly Adrian, while your release was accidental, locating this place, was not an accident.”

“You had help?”

“Of sorts, my employer, Biggs, he was the one responsible for unearthing your location.” replied Destania. She waved one of her hands off dismissively, “Although we had no idea what was down here.”

“So you came out here on a whim, and risked getting killed in the process?”

“It was easier to come alone than for a team to get lost... and potentially killed.” Destania's expression turned into a deadly serious one, “Those creatures we saw, they are but a drop in the ocean of dangers. In fact were it not for the storm, I would hasten our departure in case we are found down here without an escape route.” she said motioning at the door, the storm still raged loudly outside, there was no telling how long it would persist for.

Adrian turned back to the lockers and retrieved a few more of the box like devices from it, attaching them to several locations on his body. One on the right leg, one on the back of his waist and one on the left side of his hip. Then, as if he had no care for the storm, he made his way out of the chamber into the stony corridor while he motioned for Destania to follow with a confident smile about him.

What did he have planned? With no warp-aci to teleport them, or a spell, they were quite simply stuck here for the duration.

Were they not?

Reluctantly Destania followed after the man a short distance behind and came to a stop next to him just at the mouth of the cave. The illusionary rock was now missing, likely dispelled by whatever means this Creator had at their disposal. Rain still slammed down hard at the mouth, anything that would step into its torrent would be drenched, the only silver lining was that the lightning came at very long intervals now.

“YOU may have that armour to protect you from this, but I do not,” said Destania with a snap and unamused glare to him. Surely he did not expect her to simply wade out into this weather unprotected, sad that she did not know any spells on hand to help either. A point she should rectify in the near future. Adrian chuckled quietly before casually tossing an object out into the rain, it was a small circular disc the size of a drinks coaster. Once it rested against the damp ground a sudden burst of energy erupted from the disc, and created an invisible sphere that was only made noticeable by the rain pounding against the field it created. The field was large enough to envelop an entire individual.

“A Hydro Displacement Field and Ion Disperser.' said Adrian describing the name of the device, he then handed another one of the devices to Destania placing it within her hand, “It'll ward off rain and de-ionise the area around you. Just don't expect it to prevent flooding or high pressure jets of water from hitting you.” He tapped the top activating it for her.

Instead of a spell, he had a device that did the exact same thing, if he was to believed then this would certainly protect her from the natural elements until they can get from under the storm. Now all they had to worry about was navigating the terrain safely.

“We can still wait if you want-”

“No, this will be fine, we must get to a safer area sooner rather than later.” interjected Destania. Better to risk the slippery terrain than getting caught in a hole with no way out. The pass out of the mountains wasn't far away and if they could make it there, they would be home free, “I shall lead the way, try not to fall behind as I will not wait for you!”

“Don't worry about me, I can keep up, lead on!” said Adrian placing his helmet over his head.

 

⁂

 

Coffee tasted good.... this coffee however tasted like heaven. It did well to soothe the headache Biggs suffered from given that charade of a trade deal he negotiated. Geeze louise, you would think dealing with bunch of demons for a simple materials exchange would be easy, oh no, not at all, not when they want everything in their favour. And that literary means EVERYTHING.

Hell no. Of course, if you knew what buttons to press it was easy to make a demon forget sight of their goal... most of them anyway. Biggs managed to make an amicable agreement in any case, Destania would no doubt be impressed, or so he would figure. She was a hard one to impress at times. Biggs wandered through the halls of his mansion, sipping loudly from the large mug, the noise echoing off the walls. A folder rested under his arms, the results of his semi-successful negotiation. All that was left to do was enjoy the rest of the night.

“Hey boss.” called out one of his ever... reliable grunts.

“Mm, what is it? And don't talk so loud.” grumbled Biggs coming to a slow stop, “Hey did Dee get back yet?” he asked eyeballing the guard with a tried expression. The guard however shook his head and shrugged, at best guess probably not. “Hmm...”

“Boss there's someone here to see ya too,” said the guard, motioning behind himself with a thumb.

“Not interested, tell him to come back tomorrow,” passed off Biggs turning away while lifting the mug to his lips again. He flapped out the file a few times before taking it within his hand now.

“Actually it's a female, she's been waiting all day for you.”

The small ferret stopped again and blinked over his mug, “Hm, female huh? Is she hot?”

“She melted my sword and twisted Jacks arm out of his socket...”

“More importantly, is she hot?”

“Well... yeah she's a looker.”

“Good enough for me, send her in.” waved off Biggs and stood patiently as his guard proceeded out of his view to fetch this guest. He wondered who might have been calling this late in the day, or even had the patience to wait this long for that matter. Ah well, who cared so long as they were a good looker it would be a bright spark to the rest of the dreary day.

“Ah, Mister Sans, it's finally a pleasure to make your acquaintance.” greeted a female voice.

Biggs snapped his head around to the direction of the voice that had approached from his side instead, apparently the guest had evaded his guards and had been wandering the estate since she came from the direction of his den.

Time to cycle out the guards for new, more competent ones it seemed. A tall red long haired and grey furred wolf being stood before him, and to his hopes she was gorgeous indeed. Dressed in a pastel green tunic along with black pants and brown boots she had the attire of an adventurer. A thin narrow sword adorned one side of her hips with a dagger on the opposite side. She stood with a confident but pleasantly welcoming smile, deep blue eyes and carrying a small bag on her back.

And a very nice... 'wingspan' since she appeared to forgo armour of any kind to hide it. _'Not even a sports bra I bet'_ thought Biggs with a quiet inward chuckle as he admired her form. “What can I do for you my fine looking young lady? Can I offer you a drink?” he asked.

The wolf Being shook her head, “Ah, no thank you mister Sans, that is quite alright.” she declined with a polite wave of her hand at waist level, “I do not wish to impose too much of your time, I come as a representative of my employer.”

“Mmm, with representatives like you, your employer must have good taste,” remarked Biggs, “And call me Biggs, mister is too informal miss...?”

“Callis Midiri,” blinked the wolf noticing the ferrets gaze did more than just look at her directly.

“Midiri, a noble name,” cooed Biggs, “From the H-Ann province?”

“I... yes, my family did originate from there.”

“And Callis is a very strong name, it means dedication in some languages as I understand,” elaborated Biggs flaunting his knowledge of many obscure things. The look on the wolf's surprised face said it all, clearly she did not expect the leader of the Twinks to be so well versed. Underestimated, just the way he liked to appear.

“Well... that is very astute of you, Biggs.” said a surprised Callis but quickly brought back her confident stance once the feeling passed. “My employer said you were many things, scholarly was not one of them he listed.”

“Glad to hear my reputation proceeds me.”

Callis nodded, “As someone who unified the Twinks into a power base, it does say much of your capabilities.”

Biggs chuckled playfully, “And I am more than capable in many other things as well.”

“I can only imagine.” replied Callis with a slow long blink, an air of silence sat for a few moments as Biggs just seemingly admired her. She cleared her throat loudly in an effort to break his lucid staring, with some success as finally his gaze snapped upwards to her EYES.

“Ah, sorry, I was just thinking, one of my trusted employees is late back is all.” bluffed Biggs without a skip in his sentence. His fatigue was getting the better of him, and his mind kept wandering to other more pleasant thoughts, “So your employer seems to know much about me, may I ask whom they are?”

“The Red Baron, I doubt you have heard of him.”

Biggs cocked an eyebrow, “The Red Baron? The collector?”

“Ah, so you have heard of him.” answered Callis with an impressed fold of her arms.

“The name yeah, in history school some years back,” admitted Biggs, flicking at his necklace a few times with a fingertip. “They said he was an impressive collector of magical texts and had a library that was every magic users wet dream.” He then quickly threw a hand in the air, “Hang on, you mean to say the guy is still around? They say he disappeared during the Dragon-Cubi war.”

Callis shrugged her shoulder to one side, “I am afraid I am not privy to those details, but I do know he, like you, share a vested interest in all things obscure and difficult to find. A collector.” explained the wolf being and brought her small bag around from her back. Opening up the top she pulled from it a small elaborate box with gold decorated accents, “Currently the Baron is attempting to establish a social network of like minded individuals to share information and perhaps, trade unique items.” she said, presenting the box to Biggs.

Taking the small box in hand Biggs looked at it with a tired curiosity, the first thing he noticed was that there was nothing magical about the outside. Since the box was not locked he pinched the clasp open and flipped it over, inside was, “A glass gaming die?” questioned the ferret plucking the dodecagon shaped object from between a bed of silk sheets into his palm. The corners and edges were smooth but the sides were blank and bore no symbols, it was neither see though nor opaque enough to be completely solid. A silvery smoggy appearance was all it had. “What does it do?”

“I do not believe it does anything,” admitted Callis tapping the underside of her chin, “However I believe it is made up of a very rare and valuable material that can no longer be found in Furrae.”

“Okay,” said Biggs sounding less impressed, he had been hoping for something more magical, although like the box he couldn't detect any magic of sorts within the bauble. In fact it was totally barren, maybe this had a use after all, “What does The Baron want for this?”

“Nothing, consider it a gift.” said Callis with a cheerful smile, “He only wises to establish a formal relationship first, I imagine he will be in contact again soon to discuss a more profitable transaction.”

Free stuff, and delivered by a very pretty individual, how could Biggs say no to that tossing the bauble into the air and then snapping it out with a flick of his wrist. “Cool then! No problem, consider me interested then Callis.” said Biggs and placed the bauble back into the box, “Y'know we've got some pretty good spas and massage therapists around here, despite our look. It's pretty late now so why not stay a guest for the night, and I'll show you a few of the good ones hmm?”

“A kind offer, but I must decline,” replied Callis with a gentle shake of her head, “I have but one more stop to make and The Baron expects results, he pays well, but demands a lot.” she said.

“Shame, though if you change your mind I'd be more than happy to show you around.”

“I shall keep it in mind, thank you Biggs.” Callis then offered a short bow before bidding her host a good night and leaving the mansion.

Biggs watched the entire time she left with a casual walk but such a lovely sway of her hips, it was a real shame to watch such a pretty thing to walk away. Once out of sight the ferret snapped his fingers a few times and one of his attendants whipped to his call, passing them the box and without turning to them he said, “Get the boys and girls down in the enchanters lab to take a look at this, find out what it REALLY is.” he ordered before waving them off with a shoo like motion.

Gifts were nice, but gifts from unusual sources were to be treated with a large pot of doubt. Trust was hard earned in the Twinks, but when you had it, you had more power backing you than one would even think possible. Again, being underestimated was an appearance Biggs enjoyed keeping up all too well.

 


End file.
